UPDATED 10:42 EDT / MAY 05 2011

NEWS

Apple Addresses Location Tracking with iOS 4.3.3 Software Update

ios_4.3_logo It’s been a hot week for Apple and Google when it comes to tracking the locations of customers who use their smartphones. Almost two weeks ago, security researchers in the UK made it widely known that iOS devices track users everywhere they go. This revelation (which wasn’t really a revelation to much of the security industry) brought a lot of scrutiny to both iOS and Android when it comes to what users expect their phones to do for them—or at least not do to them.

Apple seemed all but mute on the issue since it was discovered and remained tight-lipped until today, when they released iOS Patch 4.3.3, which addresses many of the issues people had with the iPhone tracking.

The update on Apple’s support pages lists these changes as occurring under the patch:

  • Reduces the size of the cache;
  • No longer backs the cache up to iTunes;
  • Deletes the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.

These three bullet points address the largest problems that the security and privacy community has with iOS tracking. However, it may take a bit more PR work to soothe the feathers of the public who found the fact that the tracking happened secretly and without warning more disturbing than any other aspect.

The reduction in cache first-and-foremost would truncate much of the data being stored. Early reports suggested that the tracking data could go back a year or more. All of this would be less of a problem if the cache stayed on the phone—although unencrypted it was vulnerable to malicious apps—but the location cache would get backed up every time the device synced with iTunes. Meaning that anyone who had access to that computer could get their hands on it and see everywhere the user had been… This update will no longer cause the location tracking data to be synced.

Finally, not only will location tracking stop (unlike before) when Location Services is turned off on iOS devices; the OS will also delete the entire cache.

What the bullet points don’t mention is if the location tracking data is encrypted or not. This could still be a preliminary stop-gap by Apple.

Since the tracking revelation, both Apple and Google have been popped with lawsuits involving the location tracking of customers. Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito of Florida and New York respectively filed suits against Apple last week—alleging problems with Apple’s tracking and it’s furtive nature; and a class-action spawned in Detroit over Android location-tracking this week.

We’ve also know that Google Android tracks user’s location data, but allows them a lot of control about how often and asks them to opt-in to the tracking. A leaked memo from the search giant last year shed light on the fact that Google uses location-tracking data to enhance their services for consumers.

We expect the location-tracking fears to continue apace, Apple and Google will probably continue to enhance the UI and education on the hows-and-whys of customer data privacy. The same things that make a network enticing to users (accurate geolocation, targeted marketing, quicker location updates) also opens up customers to revealing more of their personal information.


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